My wife is Venezuelan and thus we have family in the country and as a long-time afficiado of rum my Venezuelan connection has allowed me the pleasure over the past 40 years of tasting some of the finest rum in the world. I'll put the best Ron Venezolano against any in the world. We will Just got back from 4 weeks there and tasted (again) the Santa Teresa A.J. Vollmer Bicentenario, Carupano Legendario, and for the first time the Diplomatico 1997 Single Vintage. All are extraordinary, like the finest old cognac, easily among the best in the world, though somewhat different amongst one another. I'll write a more detailed review on all of them later. The advantage for me is that I buy them when I depart for home at the duty-free in the Maiquetia (Caracas) airport with bolivares that I obtain at the 'black-market' exchange rate (17.5 BsF/$ rather than the official rate of 4.3, thus making things 4x cheaper) from Venezuelan acquaintances. This illegal black market in bolivares is so widespread it's disgusting (they approach any foreigner at the airport wanting to know if you want to sell dollars or euros, though usually at a lower rate), but be careful and exchange with only someone you know. That being said the Bicentenario at the airport is ~1760 BsF (~$100), the Legendario ~2400 BsF (~140.) and the Diplomatico 690 BsF (~40.). At those rates they are steals, at the regular rate 4x higher not so much. Best buy of all though is the Cacique Antiguo at 260 BsF ($15.) which is still one of my favorites among all rums. Bad part of all of this though is that you can only get these in Venezuela, no exports that I know of.

[QUOTE=timwill;49848]My wife is Venezuelan and thus we have family in the country and as a long-time afficiado of rum my Venezuelan connection has allowed me the pleasure over the past 40 years of tasting some of the finest rum in the world. I'll put the best Ron Venezolano against any in the world. We will Just got back from 4 weeks there and tasted (again) the Santa Teresa A.J. Vollmer Bicentenario, Carupano Legendario, and for the first time the Diplomatico 1997 Single Vintage. All are extraordinary, like the finest old cognac, easily among the best in the world, though somewhat different amongst one another. I'll write a more detailed review on all of them later. The advantage for me is that I buy them when I depart for home at the duty-free in the Maiquetia (Caracas) airport with bolivares that I obtain at the 'black-market' exchange rate (17.5 BsF/$ rather than the official rate of 4.3, thus making things 4x cheaper) from Venezuelan acquaintances. This illegal black market in bolivares is so widespread it's disgusting (they approach any foreigner at the airport wanting to know if you want to sell dollars or euros, though usually at a lower rate), but be careful and exchange with only someone you know. That being said the Bicentenario at the airport is ~1760 BsF (~$100), the Legendario ~2400 BsF (~140.) and the Diplomatico 690 BsF (~40.). At those rates they are steals, at the regular rate 4x higher not so much. Best buy of all though is the Cacique Antiguo at 260 BsF ($15.) which is still one of my favorites among all rums. Bad part of all of this though is that you can only get these in Venezuela, no exports that I know of.

The Diplomatico 1997 Single Vintage I saw it at the supermarket today and is 1100 BsF (174$ official exchange rate) and 42$ with the insane black market for us who live in Venezuela. There is a new one called ROBLE Ultra Aged and limited edition at the price of 317 BsF, extremelly cheap BTW.

Just heard from my venezuelan friends that the current exchange rate at the black market is U$1 for VEF 50,--!! If You´re unsure of how the duty free shop is stocked, www.licoresmundiales.com has some very fine rum on stock as well.

I enjoyed reading the thread. There is not so many places to find information about the more rare Venezuelan rums.

Can anyone give an update on the rums in Caracas (Maiquetia) airport? I heard that Carupano Legendario is no longer available, but not sure if it's true.
I will be visiting soon and hope to come preparred

stroi08, I can recommend you to have a look at www.licoresmundiales.com. if You´re unsure on what the duty free shops at the airport have and don´t want to leave without the Carupano Legendario. I was ready to pay a bit more at this shop than at the airport back in May and I don´t regret it. This rum is excellent!!

I enjoyed reading the thread. There is not so many places to find information about the more rare Venezuelan rums.

Can anyone give an update on the rums in Caracas (Maiquetia) airport? I heard that Carupano Legendario is no longer available, but not sure if it's true.
I will be visiting soon and hope to come preparred

Hi there,
In Maiquetia you can get sevral good rums. You should be able to get Santa Teresa Bicentenario and Solera (the one that comes inside a blue cylinder pack). All Diplomatico's line up (there are bundles that carry the 2-3 types including Reserva Especial). BTW, there is one Rum being recently avalable called Cañaveral which I recommend the Black label (Extra Añejo). There is a premium and rare Cañaveral that comes in a simple bottle with a blue label but is difficult to find. This Cañaveral is my next buy. Then you have the traditional stuff like Pampero Aniversario (leather sac), Cacique 500, Santa Teresa Gran Reserva...any of them are excellent. The last in the list for me are Carupano ones (except a Solera Centenaria version). There is a Castro Oro de Indias...is different and kind of mid tier. Other that I recommend is Cacique Antiguo, preimum and rare rum. In the duty free at maiquetia you can also find 2 or 3 more rums that and locally made but for international market...nothing different in what is inside the bottle but with beetr look.

This is the Rum Cañaveral black label that I mentioned. Great value, 1/3 the cost of a Pampero Aniversario. Locally the cost is 248 Bs that if you are gringo can take advantage of $/Bs currency exchange becoming only 4 usd...insane!.

This is the Rum Cañaveral black label that I mentioned. Great value, 1/3 the cost of a Pampero Aniversario. Locally the cost is 248 Bs that if you are gringo can take advantage of $/Bs currency exchange becoming only 4 usd...insane!.

Here a pic of the bottle...

BTW, exchange black market in Venezuela is today 1 usd = 64 Bs while offical exchange is 1 usd = 6.3 Bs. It means that any foreign person with cash $ can get 10 times more bolivars when selling them to any venezuelan friend. At that exchange rate you can buy any Rum with no worries. Thisis pretty bad for locals like me but since I have a lot of friends in US and Europe is worth to mention.